Ahead on Indonesia’s reform drive chief

Much has been said about the need for Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, to accelerate economic reform and streamline decision-making. To jumpstart this effort, the country’s recently re-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono set up a presidential unit to drive change. On Oct. 20, a day before Yudhoyono announced his new cabinet, Reuters tapped sources in the presidential palace, ranging from security guards who were privy to the list of visitors that Yudhoyono had been receiving to other officials and advisers, to confirm that former oil minister Kuntoro Mangkusubroto would head the unit. Kuntoro is a highly respected technocrat whose most recent job had been to oversee the reconstruction of Indonesia’s Aceh province following the 2004 tsunami. On Oct. 26, Kuntoro gave his first media interview to Reuters, underlining the seriousness with which he will pursue infrastructure reforms and investor-friendly policies.